Oh, No, Bunny – You’re Still Not Funny! follows non-identical twins who each wish for a different pet and are visited by their father’s imaginary bunny friend. What was the inspiration for your story?

When I first came up with the idea to do the Happy Tails series, I planned to have animals feature just as prominently as the humans did. Since everything is mainly featured around a holiday, well – bunnies came to mind. A good portion of the antics in the first bunny book were from real life experience. That story about the spaghetti – that was from an actual pet rabbit attacking my plate. Until then, I had no idea that bunnies could like spaghetti. Maybe it’s not good for them, but that rabbit wanted the pasta badly . . . and it makes a really good story!

What were some ideas that were important for you to personify in your characters?

A good portion of us have had imaginary friends or have used our imagination in play to entertain ourselves. I wanted this book to hold on to the precious land called “Childhood” where we can believe in the impossible and use our imaginations to enjoy the world around us. I wanted the twins to be like any other brother and sister – they annoy each other, but they are also capable of working together to achieve a common goal, which – in this case – was to contain Yakov the rabbit’s insane zest for life that could often go more wrong than right sometimes.

Are there any emotions or memories from your own life that you put into your characters’ lives?

Well, the bunny story. We had bunnies on the farm, but they were outside bunnies. The bunny spaghetti story actually came from an indoor pet bunny.

Because I lived on the farm when I was a child, our house was located too far from any of my school friends to visit, so I spent a lot of time by myself entertaining myself. How did I do that? Imagination. I made up my own stories in my mind, and I read lots of books.

Will there be a follow-up book on this story? If so, what aspects of the story will the next book cover?

It’s funny that you should ask me this question. I honestly thought after this book, that I couldn’t take it any further, but I was wrong. I have come up with a really great idea for the third installment that will keep all the current characters and add 2 new surprising ones. If you thought the first two books were insane, the third one gets even better.

I’m not sure what the front book cover will look like. I usually watch what illustrations Christina Cartwright, my illustrator, produces to see if I like any of them for the front cover, which, eventually I do. As for the back cover, I like ending it with everyone sitting under the old oak tree, like a family.

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